


Buttons

by TheMightyFlynn



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dragons, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Jealousy, M/M, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2017-01-18
Packaged: 2018-09-10 21:00:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8939122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMightyFlynn/pseuds/TheMightyFlynn
Summary: At the end of his rope, Charlie travels all the way back to Hogwarts to consult with Neville over a persistent case of dragon scale rot. What he finds is so much more than a cure.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is something I have been playing with for well over a year. It won't be incredibly long, but it will hopefully get me back into the groove of writing on a regular basis again.  
> I'll have to add extra tags as I go along. :/

Charlie shivered as a rough wind blew his hair into his face again. He was unused to the cold weather of Scotland and had re-discovered that he really didn’t care for it that much. This trip would be worth the discomfort, however, he knew it. He raised his head as he made the shelter of the Hogwarts greenhouses and slipped inside.

“How’s it going?”

Something strange and warm slithered through his stomach as Neville met his eyes and smiled. Charlie wrapped his arms around himself automatically in response. Having come all the way from his dragon sanctuary in Romania in the middle of winter, he hadn’t expected to find anything here other than the help finding a cure for the mystery illness plaguing his dragons he had been promised. What he had found here as well as that help… He tried to shake the thoughts from his mind as Neville gestured to the table in front of him. Neville was out-of-bounds, no matter what his stomach told him.

“The new mixture seems to be able to help cure the worst of the scale rot. Come take a look.”

Forcibly unwrapping his arms, Charlie stepped up to the table. He kept a professional distance between the two of them – standing at the end of the table rather than in front of it – just in case, but what he saw on the table managed to make him forget any politeness he had been trying to keep. Spread before him were examples of the scale rot that he had brought with him from the sanctuary under a secure stasis charm to prevent them from deteriorating further. He frowned and leant forward as he watched one of the Welsh Green scales slowly returning to its natural forest green.

“Nice, huh?”

There was excitement in Neville’s voice, but Charlie was too entranced by what he was watching to take much notice. This was much sooner than he had been hoping for – only a week after he had arrived – and it sent a jolt of joy through him that caused his chest to tingle and a wide smile to spread across his face. Moving around the table to stand next to Neville, he ran a hand through his damp hair, ruffling it away from the back of his neck.

“You’ve cured it?”

“Not quite.”

Charlie’s breath hitched as he glanced up to realise that Neville was _right there_ , his bright blue eyes almost sparkling as he grinned. He cleared his throat and stepped back as he felt a slight flush creeping up his chest.

“But this should at least help with the scale rot?”

“Well, the scale rot is the symptom that really needed to be addressed before I could get to the actual cause. If I had just left it to continue to deteriorate the way it was, any cure I could come up with would be basically useless. This also tells us that the cause is most likely botanical, rather than an actual disease.” He grinned when Charlie frowned. “If this hadn’t worked, then I think I was going to have to admit that it had defeated me. This is one of the more persistent cases I’ve seen, but I think it has to do with a particular strain of nightshade that grows in Romania. You’d probably know it as Atropa belladonna.” Charlie nodded absently as the image of the green and black berries of the plant flashed before his eyes. “But listen to me ramble on; I don’t want to bore you with the details. When it comes to botany and Herbology, I tend to get a bit long-winded. I’ll bottle this up so you can send some vials back to the sanctuary today. I should hopefully have some more information for you tomorrow.”

With that, he shooed Charlie out of his greenhouse and back into the wind and snow outside. Ducking as the wind hit him again, Charlie didn’t allow himself to become distracted by any of the confusing emotions pulsing through him until he had made it to the safety of the castle.

He was so much more used to camping out in the grounds of the sanctuary than using an actual room in a cabin – mostly because he had been the one to volunteer to keep an eye on the sick dragons during the night – that it felt a little strange to not have to duck to enter. The wind still whistled through the castle, though, so he hurried on up through the quiet halls, heading straight to the set of rooms he had been assigned for the few weeks he needed Neville’s help.

He undid the charms keeping the rooms safe once he reached them – a habit learned from discovering various animals setting up home in his tent on the sanctuary grounds over the years – and stepped inside. Warm and welcoming, the rooms felt so much like home that Charlie couldn’t help letting out a huge sigh as he flopped down onto the lounge before the fire.

In the eight years since the end of the war, a lot of things had changed. It didn’t seem to him that Neville had at all really, besides gaining a bit more confidence and an appealing maturity that had been absent when he was younger. Stretching his legs out before him, Charlie closed his eyes and told himself firmly that Neville was out-of-bounds. Not only was he Ron’s friend, but he had also kind of dated Ginny in school _and_ he was a whole eight years younger than him. It seemed that his libido was going to refuse to listen to him, however, as his stomach fluttered feebly. Sighing with a bit more force, he shoved himself up to his feet and began making the preparations to send the scale rot cure through to the sanctuary, knowing it would help to distract him.


	2. Chapter 2

_Charlie,_  
IT WORKED!  
The scale rot is receding in all the dragons and they’re looking much livelier. Whoever this friend of yours is, he’s a goddamn miracle worker! Make sure to keep us updated on when the full cure is ready!  
Mariana. 

Despite the fact that it was only just before nine in the morning, Charlie felt as though he had spent the entire day riding on an incredible high. The note had arrived for him that morning just before he went down to the Great Hall for breakfast with the staff and small number of students who were staying over Christmas break, and he had barely been able to contain his excitement. Unfortunately, he had been unable to share that excitement with the person who had been the cause, as Neville hadn’t been at breakfast. Charlie was just heading out of the castle in search of him – where else could he be other than the greenhouses? – when he was stopped by an amused-sounding voice.

“You seem happy.” The voice let out a soft laugh when Charlie jumped. “It suits you.”

“Professor,” Charlie breathed as he spun around, one hand coming to rest on the frame of the huge front doors of the castle. “You scared me.”

Professor McGonagall offered him a rare smile as she stepped off the last step of the staircase. “My apologies; I assumed you had heard me.”

Minerva McGonagall was one of the things that hadn’t changed in the eight years since the end of the war. Tall and thin with her pitch-black hair tied in a tight bun, she was just as formidable as ever. Charlie had to fight down the urge to lower his gaze as though he had been caught out of bed past curfew. Clearing his throat, he stepped forward and offered her his hand.

“It’s no worry. I know I’ve been distracted since I arrived.”

“And rightly fully so. Has there been any progress?”

With the high of discovering that Neville’s partial cure had worked still running through his veins, Charlie had no chance of preventing the wide grin that crossed his face. “Professor, Neville is _brilliant_. Have you seen him work? He managed to find a cure for the scale rot in just a week when our own Herbologist hasn’t had any luck for three. I honestly thought I would be staying here for months before any kind of progress could be made. He just…” Charlie shook his head in disbelief. “He’s saved the lives of half the dragons on the sanctuary, Professor, I’m sure of it.”

“Believe me, Mr. Weasley, I am fully aware of the brilliance of _all_ of my students. It’s nice to have it confirmed sometimes, however.” Her eyes took on a look that appeared to Charlie to be a mix of fondness and amusement as she continued on her way down through the castle. “And may I say again just how good it is to see you this happy. I would suggest keeping a tight hold on what – or _who_ – ever it is that has caused you to smile like this.”

Charlie couldn’t help ducking his head this time as a slight flush crept across his cheeks. He was certain that Professor McGonagall was one of the sharpest people he had ever – and probably would ever – know, so of course the suspicion that she had been able to read much more than admiration for Neville’s work in his words crept through him. He shook the thought away, however, before stepping outside the castle. Whether McGonagall had been able to read him so easily wasn’t something that he should be worrying about.

Making his way through the grounds to the greenhouses was much less of a chore that day than it had been the previous ones. Not only had the wind lessened considerably, but it also seemed that without the pressure the stress had been placing on him, he was much more observant. It felt as though he had had a pair of blinders removed. He even managed to hop over the tree root growing across the path that had almost sent him sprawling on his face into a snow drift the day before. By the time he was knocking on the door of the greenhouse Neville had been working in, he had discovered that since the last time he had visited the Hogwarts grounds, there had been significant changes. Trees had been planted, new paths had been constructed and the greenhouses had actually been moved. Charlie was standing blinking at his surroundings when Neville opened the door.

“Charlie?”

“These used to be over there, right?”

A low chuckle from Neville grabbed Charlie’s attention, causing him to turn. It seemed that his surroundings weren’t the only thing Charlie’s new-found attentiveness worked on. Neville stood before him in a white work shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows, and a pair of deep blue woollen trousers. It wasn’t the clothing itself that Charlie found himself entranced by, however; it was the buttons.

Not that they were normal buttons, he considered as he allowed his gaze to travel over Neville. Normal buttons were spaced evenly along a shirt, with one or two on the cuffs. Neville’s clothing, on the other hand, was different. A tiny row of buttons ran along the side of the dragonhide gloves he wore, fitting them securely to his hands. His shirt buttons were also tiny and spaced close together along his torso as well as at his cuffs and collar. Charlie’s fingers twitched with the need to run them along the rows as he forced himself to meet Neville’s eyes instead of following his instinct and allowing his gaze to drop to Neville’s trousers.

“With observation skills like that, it’s a good thing you chose to Keep dragons rather than train as an Auror or something similar.” His lips quirked up into a lopsided grin when Charlie rolled his eyes. “Come on in. I think I might have something to show you.”

It was as if those words jogged Charlie’s memory. “Oh! I got a note back from Mariana at the sanctuary this morning.”

As his own excitement levels over this news had been high all morning, Charlie was fully expecting Neville to react in the same way. The only reaction he received, however, was a twitch of Neville’s hand towards a trowel that sat on a bench as he passed by it.

“‘Mariana’? I thought all of the Keepers there were guys.”

There was an odd tone to Neville’s voice that caused Charlie to frown in confusion. He watched carefully for a reaction beyond that, but the only thing Neville did as he moved to stand behind his worktable was rub his right thumb along the small row of buttons on his left glove.

“No, we take anyone. Well, as long as they can handle the work, that is.” He paused just in front of the worktable Neville had stopped behind, still frowning. “But, look, forget her. Neville, _the scale rot cure works_! The note said that all the dragons that had been affected were coming good. All of their scale rot is receding, and they are more lively. Do you know what this means?”

Charlie placed his hands palm-first onto the table and leant over. He knew he was probably grinning like a madman, but there was nothing he could do to contain his excitement, which was rising again. When Neville glanced up to shake his head, Charlie caught a glimpse of an affectionate look in his eyes that almost took his breath away.

“You’ve saved them all,” he breathed, much quieter than he had meant to.

“Scale rot isn’t deadly, Charlie.”

“No, but these dragons – the ones that were the worst affected – they’re just babies, Nev. Most of them are less than a year old and are basically defenceless.”

“‘Defenceless’?” Neville’s voice lost the strange tone as the conversation went on, taking on a much more familiar tone of amusement. “You and Hagrid are the only people I have ever heard call a dragon defenceless.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

It almost felt as though a bubble of happiness burst in Charlie’s chest when Neville began to laugh. The tingles it sent coursing through his body had him smiling even wider as he watched Neville swipe a hand across his eyes.

“It was your bloody friends who came to collect Norbert in my first year, wasn’t it?”

“Ah-ah,” Charlie mock-admonished with a shake of his finger. “That would be Norbert _a_ , thank you. She’s a good girl; just coming into her breeding years.”

Charlie relaxed his posture enough to lean his hip against the worktable when a second wave of laughter overtook Neville. He crossed his arms loosely across his middle as he watched Neville trying to get himself under control. When he discovered that he rather liked the pink tint Neville’s cheeks took on when he laughed, Charlie decided to see whether he could extend the moment just a little longer.

“It looks like Hagrid will be a grandmother in a few years’ time.”

Neville snorted and doubled over, holding his ribs as his laugh turned more to a helpless wheeze. “Oh… Oh you bastard,” he gasped when he had finally gotten himself under control a little. “You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”

“Please,” Charlie scoffed, but he handed Neville a tissue from a box nearby so he could wipe his face. “Growing up with brothers like mine, do you really think I’d be stupid enough to incriminate myself like that?”

Neville stood and stared at him for a little while. The amused look his eyes had taken on hadn’t left, but there was something else there now; something that Charlie couldn’t quite place. A small movement down near the table drew his attention and his gaze flicked down just in time for him to see Neville’s thumb swipe across the small row of buttons on his glove again. He took what he hoped to be a steadying breath as he refocussed on Neville’s face.

“I could hope, right?”

That breath also left him at the sight of Neville’s slightly lopsided grin. Charlie ducked his head and cleared his throat. Neville was off-limits, he belatedly reminded himself.

“Yeah, yeah, you could,” he mumbled as he scrubbed a hand through his hair, ruffling it away from his neck. “You, ah… You mentioned wanting to show me something?”

“Oh! Oh, right. Yeah, it’s right over here.”

It took all of Charlie’s willpower to concentrate on what Neville was explaining to him. Still, it took most of the morning for him to finally be able to understand the finer points of what Neville was saying. From what Charlie could tell, for the dragons to be having the kinds of reactions they had been – scale rot, lethargy, clumsiness – then whatever they had ingested must have been both recent and related to the belladonna plants that grew around the sanctuary.

“They don’t eat the belladonna, though.”

“Are you sure about that?”

Charlie frowned. “I’ve seen the mothers teaching the babies to stay away from it. They’re highly intelligent creatures; they know it’s poisonous.”

“I’m not saying they aren’t.” Neville raised his hands in a placating gesture. “Just… Maybe there’s been some kind of contamination? Do they feed from the grounds? Because if the berries have managed to stay poisonous when in the system of some other animal that the dragons have then eaten… No, that sounds stupid even to me.”

Charlie couldn’t help grinning. “Not stupid. You’re the one who managed to cure the scale rot, after all.” Neville’s reaction of scrubbing a hand through his hair and shooting Charlie another lopsided grin sent his stomach fluttering again. He cleared his throat. “Do you… Ah, maybe we should get back to the castle. They’ll be serving lunch soon.”

Neville ran his thumb along the row of buttons again, but this time he mumbled a charm that loosened them so he could slip the gloves off. He placed the gloves carefully in a compartment in the table that Charlie hadn’t noticed before and gestured to the door.

“After you.”


	3. Chapter 3

“Neville, Charlie! Good to see ya!” Hagrid’s huge hand swiped through the air, causing several Professors to have to duck out of the way. “Come on over!”

It was strange to see the Great Hall of Hogwarts so empty. Only eight students had decided to spend their Christmas hols at school – there weren’t even any Ravenclaws at all this year – so McGonagall had declared that everyone would use the one table. It was odd, but it made everything feel so much more relaxed. Shooting Neville a grin, Charlie set off towards the opposite end of the table where Hagrid had apparently saved them both seats.

It was actually a bit of a relief for Charlie to step away from Neville, as they had walked side-by-side back to the castle, their shoulders occasionally bumping. It had felt… somehow strangely intimate. It had sent shivers through Charlie that he had tried his best to ignore. Intimacy with Neville was definitely something he wished to try to avoid, considering the promise he had made himself to not get involved with him. His sibling’s friends had never yet been a temptation for Charlie, but Neville tested his resolve like no one had before.

“How’re you doing?” Hagrid greeted them the second Charlie had seated himself at the table next to him. “Any more progress?”

Charlie couldn’t help shooting Neville another grin. “Since this morning, you mean?”

“Now, now, you never know.” It appeared as though Hagrid was grinning back at Charlie, if the twitching of his beard was anything to go by. “If anyone can work this out for you, it’ll be Neville.”

“Oh, believe me, I know. He’s already found a cure for the scale rot.”

“No! But it’s only been–”

“Eight days.”

Unable to help himself, Charlie shot a glance to the opposite side of the table, where Neville was seated. Neville’s eyes were pinned to the plate in front of him, but Charlie could see the redness of his forehead and the tips of his ears. He knew that Neville wasn’t one for blowing his own horn, but Charlie believed he really did deserve the praise.

“I’ve always said that young Neville here was destined for great things.”

Charlie allowed himself to enjoy the deepening of the red on the tips of Neville’s ears before he turned back to Hagrid. “Well, I definitely count saving my babies as ‘great things’.”

They didn’t get a chance to continue, as the food appeared on the platters in the middle of the table just as Charlie finished speaking. It still astonished him just how much food – and the quality of it at that – that the Hogwarts kitchens were able to produce on a daily basis. Even with Hermione’s adjustments to the laws that governed house-elves and how they are paid, it was still the best food Charlie had ever tasted. Not that he would ever admit that anywhere near his mother. Stacking his plate with as much food as it could reasonably carry, Charlie flumped back against the bench seat with a huge smile.

“A bit hungry, are you?”

There was amusement to Neville’s voice, but Charlie merely raised an eyebrow at him in response. “I’ve got to keep my strength up, you know.”

“Hmm.”

Neville produced a straw – from where, Charlie had no idea – placed it in the cup of pumpkin juice beside him, wrapped his lips around the tip and _sucked_. Charlie could only stare, transfixed. When he had apparently had enough juice, Neville released the straw and licked the tip delicately, ostensibly catching a drip. The smile he offered up as his gaze trailed slowly over Charlie’s arms – which were crossed loosely in front of him on the table – had Charlie swallowing painfully. Unfortunately, it seemed Neville wasn’t done just yet, however. Licking his lips, he leant in closer to Charlie and met his eyes.

“I think you look just fine how you are.”

Well… fuck. Charlie’s heart seemed to be skipping every second beat. Was Neville _flirting_ with him? No, surely not. Surely he had misinterpreted the soft tone to Neville’s voice, or the almost molten look he had given him, or even the way he was damn-near fellating that bloody straw. Charlie cast looks to both his left and right, but it seemed that everyone else was engrossed enough in their conversations that they hadn’t noticed. When he looked back to Neville, however, he was sitting back in his chair, just beginning his lunch.

“I – uh…”

“Charlie!”

Charlie grunted as one of Hagrid’s hands slapped down on his shoulder. “Hagrid?” Even Charlie could hear the confusion to his voice. “Uh…”

“You alright?” Hagrid leant in close to Charlie’s face, concern clear in his eyes. “You look a little flushed.”

“Uh…” Charlie sighed. It would be so nice if he could manage actual words. “Uh, yeah, yeah, I’m good. I’m good. What – uh – what’s up?”

Hagrid eyed him for a few more seconds before nodding. “I was just keeping Professor Dougal here up-to-date on young Mariana and how she’s doing at the sanctuary. He taught over in Durmstrang for a few years before transferring to Hogwarts last year. She’s doing quite well, isn’t she?”

“Oh! Oh, yeah, she’s brilliant!” Charlie leant forward so he could see the Professor sitting on Hagrid’s other side. “Mari is one of the very best trainees I’ve ever worked with. She can handle the worst of the temper tantrums as well as care for any sick animals with a gentleness that I haven’t seen from a trainee for a long time. Was it you who taught her for Magical Creatures?”

“Not me personally, no.” The man had a thick accent that Charlie couldn’t quite place, but he was easy enough to understand. “I was her Potions Professor.”

Charlie couldn’t help his eyes widening at this information. “So it was you who taught her the burn salve that cures most burns within an hour?”

The man smiled modestly. “That is a standard potion we teach our seventh years at Durmstrang.”

“Well, it should be standard here as well,” Charlie declared. “Until Mari arrived, we were waiting at least half a day before the pain resided with a lot of the bad burns. She’s been a Godsend, I swear.”

“Well, it is good to know that she has remembered my teaching and was able to put it to good use. Will you give her my best when you see her next, please?”

“Yeah, of course! I’m sure she’ll be happy to know you’re proud of her.”

The man nodded his head before turning back to Hagrid. When Charlie glanced back across the table to where Neville had been, it was to find an empty spot. The disappointment that shot through Charlie was strong enough that it felt as though his insides were sinking. When he glanced down the table, he caught Professor McGonagall’s eye. She shook her head slowly, her lips pressed together. If Charlie hadn’t known better, he could have sworn that she was feeling the same level of disappointment that he was at that moment, although why she would be directing that disappointment at him, he had no idea.

His eyes drifted automatically back to where Neville had sat not two minutes before. Neville had left his plate half-full, so perhaps there was something wrong with his food? Charlie contemplated scooping the food into a baggie and taking it up to Neville’s rooms all during lunch, but decided against it at the last minute. If Neville had been sick, wouldn’t he have said something instead of just leaving without a word? He leant back against the bench as the plates cleared, wondering whether he should go check on him, or whether he should just leave him to whatever it was that had drawn him away from the table. It wasn’t until Hagrid’s vice broke through his thoughts that he moved again.

“Professor Dougal is coming down for a bit of a tipple, if you want to join us.”

Charlie smiled. He knew that Hagrid’s version of ‘a bit of a tipple’ had the potential to end with him in the hospital with alcohol poisoning, but really, what else was he going to do that afternoon? Neville had clearly gone off on his own and the only other choice facing him was to go back to his rooms alone.

“Sure. I haven’t had a drink in a while.”


	4. Chapter 4

Charlie was never moving again. Ever. In fact, if it wasn’t for his rather urgent need to use the facilities, he was certain that he could have happily just lay in the soft bed the entire day, willing his aches and pains away. Fucking Hagrid and his fucking moonshine! How could they let him do that on school grounds?

When his bladder reminded him of the reason he was awake at the ungodly hour of – wait, was it really half ten already? His eyes were blurry, maybe he had seen the numbers wrong? But no. After scrubbing his hand over them and blinking until they focussed, Charlie had to admit that he hadn’t seen the numbers wrong: he had actually slept in until ten thirty. He sighed and immediately regretted it: his breath was absolutely rank!

The trip to the bathroom was… entertaining. He made it, though. After relieving himself, he even managed to brush his teeth – twice – and down a hangover potion. Standing and swaying in the doorway between the bedroom and the living area, Charlie’s gaze moved between the bed and the sink. He knew he couldn’t even consider food at that point, but a huge glass of water was incredibly tempting. Afterwards, he figured, he could sleep on the lounge if he really had to. That was as far as his mind was apparently capable of making it before he moved. The water was _divine_. He even splashed some on his heated face before turning to collapse on the lounge to wait for the hangover potion to kick in.

“Are you _still_ asleep?”

Charlie groaned. His headache had, thankfully, disappeared, but Neville’s voice was still a touch too loud.

“Nev?” His voice was croaky still, but it seemed that Neville had understood him.

“You should know better than to drink with Hagrid by now, you know.”

“Wha’s the time?”

“Nearly four.”

Charlie sat bolt upright. The room spun sickeningly and he closed his eyes automatically, trying to stave off the vertigo.

“Four in the afternoon?”

“No, Charlie, I barged in here at four in the morning.”

There was an unusual level of sarcasm laced through Neville’s voice that caused Charlie to frown. “Nev?” Squinting up at Neville standing before him, he tried to force his mind into working out what had prompted the tone. “What’s wrong?”

Neville heaved a frustrated-sounding sigh. “Nothing.” He raised a hand to scrub through his hair and over his face. When he continued, his voice was low. “Nothing’s wrong. Look, I think I may have worked out how to cure whatever is wrong with the dragons.”

All thoughts of sarcasm and why Neville was reacting to him this way flew immediately out of Charlie’s mind. His gaze fell to a sachet in Neville’s hand. It was small and didn’t look like much, but it caused Charlie’s heartrate to increase.

“A cure? For all of it, not just the scale rot?” Charlie could hear the excitement in his own voice, but he knew that there was nothing that was going to prevent it. “When? How?”

Pushing aside the leftover sensations still rolling through him from the hangover potion, he sat up properly and tucked his legs beneath him, staring up at Neville expectantly. Neville blinked at him a few times before licking his lips and casting his eyes down.

“I – um… I think it’s actually the dog-rose that’s the problem, not the nightshade,” Neville began, his voice still low. “I think, maybe, that it might have contaminated the dragon’s water supply. I know they – the roses – are usually climbers, so maybe they spread to the walls of the ponds or lakes the dragons usually drink out of.”

“The dog-rose?” Charlie nodded slowly. “Yeah, they’re all over the sanctuary. I’ll send a message through with the cure for Mari to have the water supplies checked out as soon as possible…”

Charlie trailed off uncertainly when Neville seemed to flinch. With his gaze still locked onto the toes of his shoes, Neville looked like a small child who had been scolded. Frowning again, Charlie reached out to him automatically, only to have Neville drop the sachet onto the coffee table and step out of his reach.

“I’m sorry. I can’t…” Neville took a deep breath before raising his head. “I hope this helps, I really do, but I have to go. I’m sorry.”

The only excuse Charlie could come up with for the full thirty seconds it took for him to react to this strange turn of events was that the hangover potion was still causing him to be slightly fuzzy-minded. Once he got over the shock of Neville’s sudden departure, however, he was off. Leaving the sachet where Neville had dropped it, Charlie pushed himself to his feet and made it to the door of his rooms in record time.

“Neville?”

The corridor to the right was empty. A quiet scrape of shoe against stone drew Charlie’s attention to the left, though, and he turned just in time to see Neville turning into the next corridor down. Charlie didn’t even bother to lock his rooms before taking off at a jog after him. Unfortunately, that seemed to be the fastest he was capable of moving at the time, or else he was certain he would have caught up within seconds. As it was, however, Charlie ended up chasing Neville down two more corridors before he managed to grab hold of his wrist, preventing him from taking one of the twins’ favourite secret passages.

“What the hell?” Charlie was panting slightly as he spun Neville towards him. “What was that all about?”

Neville sighed and ran a hand through his hair again. “That was you apparently not being able to take a hint.”

Charlie wished he could have prevented the hurt that washed through him at the words, he really did. His chest squeezed tightly and he couldn’t stop himself from frowning. He shook his head.

“I don’t understand. What did I do?” Charlie’s stomach fluttered when Neville licked his lips again. “You can’t possibly be angry because I got drunk with Hagrid.”

Neville’s reaction was immediate: yanking his arm out of Charlie’s grip, he marched over to the railing and gripped it tight. “Je- _sus_ , Charlie!” Spinning around, he pinned Charlie with a despairing look. “You know, when I was taking to the twins about–” he paused to wave a hand between them, “about _you_ , they warned me that you are a little clueless when it comes to things like this.”

“‘Clueless’?”

“Well, no, not clueless, exactly. Their precise words were: ‘Nev, mate, he’s as thick as two short planks.’ I didn’t know whether to believe them or not until right now.”

Charlie blinked. Neville had just called him stupid. Well, no, he reconsidered a second later. It was really Fred and George who had called him stupid, which wasn’t surprising at all, really. They tended to see everyone who wasn’t as sharp as they were as a bit dim. He cleared his throat.

“You were speaking to the twins about me?”

Neville sighed. “Yes, but it seems I was too late.”

As much as Charlie would have loved to have proven the twins wrong on this occasion, he really did feel as clueless as Neville had accused him of being. “Too late for what?”

Neville leant heavily against the railing that led to the stairs to the next level down. The combination of disbelief and uncertainty in his eyes was easy for Charlie to make out. What confused him even more than the look Neville was giving him, however, was how quickly things had deteriorated between them. The day before had started out so well, Charlie thought. Mari had sent the note telling him that the scale rot was receding, he’d spent some time with Neville in the greenhouse and had even thought that Neville may have been flirting with him over lunch. Not that _that_ was a factor in anything, he quickly reminded himself. He refocussed when Neville sighed.

“Do you really not know? _Really_?”

Having to resist the urge to sigh, Charlie took a small, slightly cautious step forward. “Neville, if I had any idea what you were talking about, then I swear on the graves of my _ancestors_ that I would have already given you an explanation for whatever it is that I’ve done that pissed you off. As it is, however, I woke with a killer hangover and aren’t really up to solving mysteries.”

He ran a hand through his hair, ruffling it away from the back of his neck. It was then that he caught Neville’s eyes watching the movement, the quick flick of his tongue as he wet his lips; the fleeting look of desire in his eyes.

“Neville?” He could do no more than whisper as his stomach flipped and a desperate hope flared in his chest.

“I’m not a mystery, Charlie. I _want_ you.” Neville’s voice was pitched even lower than it had been earlier, but Charlie had no problems hearing him. “It started a few years back at one of the Christmases at the Burrow. That Quidditch match. I… I just couldn’t take my eyes from you and, of course, the twins noticed. They haven’t let up on me about it since then, but…” He trailed off with a deep sigh. “I know I was too late. You and Mariana, you sound like you have something special and I – I wouldn’t want to interfere with that. So, I–”

Neville’s words were cut off when Charlie stepped forward and practically crashed their lips together. The kiss wasn’t soft, but it was what Charlie needed. A deliciously earthy scent drifted up from Neville’s collar; the same scent that Charlie had been desperately trying to avoid taking too deep of a breath of in the greenhouse for the past week. He broke away to allow himself to finally take that deep breath.

“Charlie?” Neville croaked. “What–?”

“Gay, Nev; I’m gay.”

“Are you sure?”

Charlie couldn’t help chuckling at the confusion in Neville’s tone. “One hundred percent.”

“But… You talk about that Mariana as though she could walk on water without a levitation charm! I thought–”

“Me and _Mari_? Merlin, Nev, I was holding back because I thought _you_ were too young for me, let alone someone who’s only just out of school!”

“I–” Neville was cut off again, this time by a loud, blaring horn that echoed through the entire school. He let out an almost pained-sounding groan. “ _Fuck me_!”

“What…?”

“It’s a bloody reminder that we have a staff meeting. The students are due back in two days, so we have to have everything in order for them.”

The regretful look Neville shot him had Charlie’s insides sinking. “So…”

Neville shook his head slowly. “This time I really _do_ have to go. But, maybe…” He trailed off, now a slightly more hopeful tone to his voice. “Maybe I could see you? Later on?”

It was the tone of Neville’s voice that had Charlie drawing him into a second kiss. This time, he held himself back, slowly running his tongue over Neville’s bottom lip before leaning into him. His hand came up to tangle through the hair at the back of Neville’s head, tugging gently. Neville let out a soft sound that Charlie could have sworn was a moan when he wrapped his free arm around his waist and pulled them close together.

“I’m taking that as a yes,” Neville breathed the second Charlie pulled back.

With the light-headedness the kiss had caused, it took a few seconds before Charlie was able to respond. He leant forward so he could rest his forehead against Neville’s.

“Definitely.” He took the time to take another deep breath of Neville’s scent before continuing. “Come by my rooms after the meeting lets out.”

“Yeah?”

Unable to resist, Charlie nipped at Neville’s bottom lip again. “Yeah.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a feeling y'all are going to want to clobber me for leaving it here, but I swear the next chapter will finally justify the rating! <3


	5. Chapter 5

Charlie’s hands were shaking. It wasn’t really noticeable unless you looked closely, he thought, but it was enough to prove just how nervous he was; just how nervous the thought of Neville made him. The offer for Neville to come to his rooms after the meeting let out had been a spur of the moment thing. Charlie knew he had been thinking much more with his hormones than with his head, but he found that he couldn’t regret it, despite the state he had worked himself into over it.

Letting out a soft sigh, he ran his eyes over the set-up he had in his rooms. Charlie had no idea whether they would have eaten yet, but figured that it was only polite to offer Neville something, even if it was just a drink. It was nothing even approaching Hagrid’s moonshine, but Charlie figured it was the thought that counted. A creeping sensation down his spine told him that he was stalling, but he ignored it. He wasn’t stalling, he was being polite. Wasn’t he?

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, get a grip,” he scolded himself.

Running his hands through his hair, he stomped out of the living room into the bathroom so he could splash some cold water on his face. It had been a long time since Charlie had done anything like this. Finding someone while on the sanctuary was hard enough when you were straight, but when you were gay… He shook his head. He had had to travel an hour out to the nearest village to be with the last man he had had a real relationship with, so most of the time he simply didn’t bother. Life was simpler that way. Now, however… Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly and raised his head to look himself in the eyes in the mirror.

“You can do this. It’s just Neville.”

The fluttering of his stomach told Charlie that Neville wasn’t _just_ anything. He didn’t get any time to examine the thought closer, though, before a knock sounded on his door.

“Shit.” Clenching and unclenching his hands in turn, Charlie marched out of the room towards the door. “Shit, shit, _shit_.”

Running both hands through his hair, he flipped it up and away from the base of his neck. His hands clenched again automatically the second they were free from his hair, but he forced one towards the doorhandle.

“Nev…”

The word was whispered the second Charlie opened the door. Neville stood before him in one of those damned button-up shirts that had been driving Charlie crazy with need for the past week, his lips quirked up into his lopsided smile.

“Charlie.” Neville licked his lips, his eyes running down Charlie’s body. “I, um–”

It was as far as he got before Charlie, completely unable to help himself, stepped forward and drew him into a soft kiss. Or, at least, it was intended to be soft. A quiet sound from Neville, however, had Charlie’s insides fluttering once again. One of his hands came up to brace against the back of Neville’s head, his fingers threading through his soft hair. The other one wrapped not too gently around Neville’s waist, drawing him nearer. Neville responded beautifully. Pressing closer, his hands grasped the collar of Charlie’s flannelette shirt, holding tight. A slightly embarrassed-sounding cough from down the hall was what broke them apart.

“You get a pass this one time, _Professor_ Longbottom,” Professor McGonagall’s voice drifted to them. “If the children were here, then it would have been a different story.”

“S-sorry, Professor,” Charlie choked out as Neville quickly stepped away from him, creating a large gap between them. “That was, ah, my fault.”

A second lopsided grin from Neville had Charlie ducking his head. He stepped aside and held the door open so Neville could enter his rooms, out of the sight of McGonagall’s prying eyes.

“Charlie?”

He halted just before following Neville into the room. “Yes, Professor?”

She was smiling at him when he turned to face her. “Keep hold of this one.”

Charlie grinned. “Yes, Professor.”

Neville was waiting for him in front of the fire when Charlie stepped inside, still grinning. Knowing now that he couldn’t trust himself, Charlie moved to stand behind the lounge, keeping it between them for the time being, just in case.

“Neville.”

Neville grinned. “Charlie.”

“I, uh…”

Now that he had him there, Charlie found himself slightly stumped as to how to move forward. It had been so long since he had had a proper date rather than just finding a willing body in a club back in Romania that his mind had gone a little blank. Should he offer Neville a drink and take things slowly? It hadn’t felt as though that was the way things were heading earlier. Perhaps he was supposed to just jump him? But surely that couldn’t be what Neville was expecting? The decision was, thankfully, taken from his hands when Neville gestured to the coffee table, where he had dropped the satchel earlier.

“You sent it through?”

Charlie latched onto the out Neville had given him as though his life depended on it. “Yes! I, uh… Please.” He gestured to the lounge, indicating that Neville should take a seat. “I actually spoke to our Herbologist – that’s who I have to hand the cure over to, so he can replicate it if needed – and mentioned that you think it might be the dog-rose that’s the problem. Cristian said that he remembers seeing some of the babies who had been the worst affected heading up the slopes towards where he knows the dog-rose grows wild. He didn’t think anything of it, because he knew that the adults taught them which flowers were safe and which aren’t.”

“But if it’s actually their drinking water that has been tainted accidentally…”

“Exactly!” Charlie reached over to the coffee table, poured two tumblers of whiskey, and handed the second to Neville without thinking. “We know for a fact that the mothers will prevent their babies, or even the babies of the others in their family group, from eating anything dangerous, so this must have happened accidentally. They’re going to send people out to check the water supplies first thing in the morning.”

The warm smile Neville offered up as he sipped his drink sent a shot of electricity straight through Charlie. He tightened his grip on the glass to prevent his hand from visibly shaking.

“Thank you, Nev. You have no idea how much this means to me.”

Leaning forward so he could set his glass down, Neville offered up another of his lopsided smiles. He reached out to brush a finger against Charlie’s.

“You could show me.”

Charlie’s breath left him in a rush. The short conversation had distracted him from his nerves for a few minutes, but they returned full force in that second. Flicking his tongue out to wet his lips, he tried to ignore the thudding of his heart in his chest.

“Charlie?”

There was a hesitation to Neville’s voice that caused Charlie’s eyes to slide closed. He took a deep breath.

“I haven’t done this in a long time, Nev. I…”

His eyes flew open and his breath caught in his throat when he felt Neville’s fingers brushing against his own again. He loosened his death grip on the glass, following Neville’s gentle instructions.

“Allow me.”

There was an undertone of sweetness beneath the whiskey as their lips connected in a soft kiss. It sent a strange shiver through Charlie, starting at his lips and travelling down to tingle in his chest. He hummed quietly when Neville shifted closer to him on the lounge.

“Alright?”

Charlie couldn’t help humming again against Neville’s lips. “Brilliant,” he breathed, causing Neville to chuckle. “I–”

“Charlie?”

“Hmm?”

“Stop thinking.”

Charlie’s surprised laugh was swallowed as Neville claimed his lips again. This time, the kiss held a little more desperation. Pressing forward, Charlie wrapped one arm around Neville’s waist to drag him closer. He found himself gaining confidence in his own actions when Neville’s only response was a quiet moan.

Neville’s hands began to roam all over Charlie’s shoulders and back, squeezing and massaging the muscles beneath his shirt. The sensation of Neville’s fingers pressing into his shoulders caused Charlie to arch forward, unsure if he was trying to get away, or encourage the touch. With Neville’s scent and warmth surrounding him, Charlie found his mind quickly beginning to swim with lust. His free hand came up to trace along the line of tiny buttons that ran the length of Neville’s chest.

“You have no idea how insane these buttons have been driving me, do you?”

“Buttons?”

Neville’s voice was breathy, causing Charlie to chuckle. He pressed forward even further, forcing Neville to either adjust his position to allow Charlie in, or move off the lounge. The smile that spread across Charlie’s face when Neville turned to face him felt almost feral. He flicked the top button gently.

“Buttons.”

A tiny sound escaped Neville when Charlie flicked the top button out of its hole. Charlie ignored it, however. Placing his other hand on Neville’s shoulder, he gently pushed him back against the lounge so he had better access to the shirt. Neville’s skin was slowly revealed as Charlie’s fingers worked down the front of his shirt, spreading the halves as he went. It was tempting to lean in to taste each tiny piece of skin as it was revealed, but Charlie held himself back. There would be more than enough time for that later. By the time he had reached the bottom of the shirt, they were both breathing heavily. Not even stopping to think about his actions, Charlie leant forward, covering Neville’s body with his own so he could latch onto the pulse he could see pounding in the side of Neville’s throat.

“Charlie…”

“I want you, Nev.”

“Yesss…”

The word hissed through the room as Neville’s back arched. It was clear to Charlie even before he trailed his hand further down Neville’s body that he was more than ready for this. But still, he took pleasure in the deep groan Neville let out when his fingers brushed against the bulge in the front of his trousers. Moving up a little closer, he kissed him again, his tongue slipping straight into Neville’s willing mouth.

He made quick work of the buttons of the fly so he could draw Neville out of his trousers. Thick and hard, Neville’s prick fit into Charlie’s hand almost perfectly. He broke the kiss long enough to murmur a lubricating charm to help ease his way.

“Charlie…” Neville arched, pressing into Charlie’s hand. “Ohh, please…”

“Shush,” Charlie admonished quietly with a small smile. “I’ve got you, Nev.”

Charlie focussed on nipping and sucking on Neville’s throat as he stroked him, keeping his movements deliberately slow. It helped to serve as a small distraction from his own rapidly growing need, but he knew he couldn’t wait for too long. With Neville groaning beneath him, Charlie’s control was deteriorating quickly.

“I need… Please, Charlie, I’m… _fuck_ …”

Charlie chuckled at the almost-whine Neville let out when he twisted his hand, but he relented; his own need was becoming too great. Neville whined again when Charlie released him, but it was quickly cut off when he realised that Charlie was removing his clothing. Wriggling, Neville stripped himself of his trousers and reached up, not even allowing Charlie to undress completely before pulling him to him.

“Now.”

Opening his mouth, Charlie discovered that responding was beyond him. Using the remaining lube he had conjured earlier, he stroked along his own hard length – Neville had allowed him enough time to strip his trousers down to his thighs – before settling down on top of him.

“Nev…”

“I don’t want to wait, Charlie. Not anymore.”

A mumbled charm prepared Neville for him, allowing Charlie to obey. He knew he was probably incapable of doing otherwise at that stage, especially with Neville’s fingers once again digging into his shoulders. Unconsciously, Charlie held his breath as he pressed forward in small thrusts.

“Gods, Nev,” he couldn’t help groaning when he was fully settled inside him.

He gasped when Neville reached up to draw him down into a harsh kiss. With the kinds of sensations that were rushing through him, Charlie was unsurprised when his hips gave an involuntary jerk. Neville’s only response, however, was to groan and tighten his grip on Charlie’s shoulders. It was all the permission Charlie needed. Pulling out, he thrust back in hard enough to move Neville up the lounge. His movements were a little jerky, but he soon found his rhythm. Neville rocked with him, gripping his shoulders and squeezing around him, sending Charlie rocketing towards his completion much sooner than he wanted to.

“Nev… Nev…” Charlie broke the kiss to rest their foreheads together.

“I – I’m… close, so close…”

All it took for Neville to tip over the edge was for Charlie to reach between them and give his leaking prick a few quick tugs. His breath huffed hotly in Charlie’s ear as he spilled his release over their stomachs and Charlie’s hand. Charlie lost his rhythm as Neville’s muscles squeezed around him, his hips jerking in random thrusts.

“Charlie,” Neville whispered, his voice rough. “Charlie…”

One last squeeze of Neville’s muscles around him drew Charlie into orgasm as well. He froze, pleasure flooding through every cell of his body. He collapsed down on top of Neville the second it released him, his breath heaving through him.

“Nev…”

“That was brilliant.”

Charlie let out a tired chuckle, and found he was only capable of humming his agreement. He ran his fingers along the buttons of the shirt Neville still wore before moving just off to the side so his weight wasn’t fully on top of Neville. How long they stayed in that position, Charlie had no idea, but when he finally came to again, it was to find Neville’s hand stroking through his hair.

“You know, every time you played with your hair over the past week, I had to resist replacing your hands with mine.”

Charlie chuckled as his fingers moved to play with the row of buttons once again. “It was a move prompted purely by my sense of self-preservation. I had to stop myself from unwrapping you every time you wore these ridiculous shirts.”

Neville hummed. “There’s no need to stop yourself anymore.”

Running the buttons through his fingers, Charlie smiled. “I’ll be taking you up on that every chance I get, you know.”

“Good.”

The vehemence to Neville’s voice had Charlie smiling again. Adjusting his position, he let out a deep, satisfied sigh before allowing himself to drift off to sleep with Neville’s arms wrapped around his shoulders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here's the end. Thank you to everyone who read, kudosed (?) and commented! I hope you like it! :)


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